Broken Hallelujah
by davinci333
Summary: [Secretary]“Mrs. Grey?”“Yes sir?”“Come into my office…right now, please.”His voice buzzed through the intercom with its usual intensity. “I need to discuss your most recent…typing error. Get in here.
1. Scribbled Hearts and Spelling Errors

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Secretary, or Lee and Edward. I kinda own Mr. Levine, but he's boring so whoever wants him can have him. I also do not own the office and will do my best to portray it as accurately as I can, even if I have to rewatch the movie countless times to do so. (Oh, what a _chore_ that would be!)

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_**Broken Hallelujah**_

**_Chapter 1: Scribbled Hearts and Spelling Errors_**

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"Mrs. Grey?"

"Yes sir?"

"Come into my office…right now, please."

His voice buzzed through the intercom with its usual intensity, making her smile wryly as she sat at the typewriter. Continuing to lean towards her desk and the intercom button, she answered, "why?" in the most innocent and naïve tone she could muster.

He hesitated, and then his reply came quietly, barely more than a whisper, causing her to lean closer to the tiny speaker.

"I need to discuss your most recent…typing error. Get in here."

The connection of the intercom closed with a snap, matching the sharpness of his last command.

Suppressing the urge to get up and bound straight down the hall to his office, Lee stood, smoothed down her black knee-length skirt, and gave herself a minute to calm down enough to retain the control she knew she would need to keep from jumping him as soon as she walked through that office door.

The lone client waiting in the reception area had fallen asleep behind their newspaper, and Lee tiptoed over to him to lightly pry the paper from his hands so it didn't fall. It wouldn't do for Mr. Levine to wake and realize his appointment was already fifteen minutes overdue!

Leaving the elderly gentleman to snore away contentedly, Lee turned and began walking down the dim hallway to the office. She could see the door was cracked open the slightest bit, leaving a halo of light around its large antique frame.

Hand on the brass knob, she opened it, flooding the hallway with the light that beamed through the two large windows in the office. He was sitting between the tall panes at his obsessively neat and organized desk, watching her every move as she deftly turned and closed the door as quiet as she could behind her, still eliciting a loud creak before it reached its destination.

Turning back towards him and walking to face him across the desk, she couldn't help but note with a small smile that the light framed him as well, the symmetry of the bright windows and the two lamps behind him on the wall creating their own brand of halo around his sitting form. She was woken from this little breach of reality by the deep murmur of his voice.

"Lee. What is this?"

He said the words slowly, enunciating every syllable as they rolled off his tongue. He held up her latest masterpiece of a letter with his left hand while gesturing in a sweeping manner with his right to reinforce his words, still staring at her emphatically. The paper was covered in exaggerated red circles, which came without a doubt from one of the red pens that stood like a little army on display on a rack under his desk lamp.

She cocked her head slightly, smiling cautiously sweetly and answered, "That, sir, is the letter you asked me to write up for Mr. Handley." She paused, making a vast shrugging gesture that involved her entire upper body, and giggled, adding, "Wow, I guess I should've read it over first, huh!"

He slammed the letter down on the desk, and her giggling stopped abruptly, the smile exchanged for a startled gasp, but her eyes still danced as his were locked with hers, and she could see his own hidden smile leaking through them.

He licked his lips lightly, and feigned a forced smile.

"Lee, do I pay you to draw hearts all over your work?" He stood, and began walking slowly out from behind the desk, continuing. "How do you think this kind of carelessness from my secretary makes me look to my clients; my associates? What if I hadn't proofread it first?"

He stopped when he was standing directly behind her.

She closed her eyes and felt her body respond to his presence with a sharp intake of breath, and she trembled slightly as he whispered, barely audible into her ear.

"You, are being very, very unprofessional." He breathed into her delicate lobes, tracing his fingertips down her left arm and sending a noticeable shiver down her spine.

Nuzzling her neck, he continued, "Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

He was gripping her wrists lightly now, she noted, as she breathlessly shook her head, letting out a barely audible "no" as she felt his full weight shift behind her to force her lightly into the familiar leaning position over the edge of the desk, where she was able to peer at her thoroughly corrected letter.

As he stood he ran his left hand down to the small of her back, positioning her how he wanted her.

"Then you leave me no choice."

He braced his right hand a foot away from her slightly quivering behind as she braced herself for what she knew was coming. She heard the rustle of his suit before she felt the sharp smack; before she heard the prominent slapping sound of his hand connecting with her ass.

Closing her eyes, she gasped as she felt him smack her again. Hearing him grunt with the exertion, she knew he was putting full force behind them this time.

_Wow, I'll have to remember to draw hearts all over his letters more often if it affects him this much!_ She thought before another spank drove all thoughts from her mind. Feeling the endorphin rush rising just like the redness in her twin cheeks was undoubtedly rising, she let out a gasping moan each time she felt flesh connect with thinly covered flesh.

Immensely agitated with the visual of how he was affecting her with this, he sped up the spanking, hitting different locations all over her ass to lessen the bruising in one isolated area. He was marking his territory, almost reminding her with this passion-filled exchange that only _he_ could make her feel this way.

She knew. Feeling this change of pace, Lee's moans escalated to include his name as well as she breathed out sharply with each loud smack.

"Edward! Edward! Edward Grey!"

This set him off completely, and with his fervent pace and relentless strength, the force of each swing of his hand sent her elbows scudding inch after inch across the desk.

He spanked in time with each part of his name escaping her lips,

"E…Edward…Grey!"

Their exchange reaching a sort of climax, he let out a final grunt of satisfaction and rested his form over hers, his hands beside her own. Their gasping breaths matched as they remained still for nearly a minute.

She brushed her left pinkie over his thumb. A homage to their first touch; his hand enveloped hers in his own recognition of this memory.

She smiled as his lips gently traced a path of sensation from her neck up to her check, wrapping his arms around her lightly heaving chest as she caught her breath.

"Wow, I had no idea I had been _that_ naughty." She whispered as she turned around in his arms to face him. He helped her to sit gingerly on the desk, and pushed stray tendrils of chestnut brown hair behind her ears.

Flashing the tender, adoring smile he reserved just for her, he replied,

"Well, there were a lot of hearts. You even seemed to go out of your way to slip in those spelling errors as well. You know those ones just drive me completely insane."

He took her head in his hands and kissed her forehead, then the tip of her nose which made her giggle, and then ever so gently on her lips as their smiles met. As he lingered there, he jumped as he felt her smack his own behind firmly.

Breaking away from her to meet her gaze with his, he arched an eyebrow at her. Smiling devilishly in return, she commented, "Sorry, couldn't resist."

Rolling his eyes at her but betraying his amusement with the smirk that took hold of him, he moved away from her to walk behind the desk again, seating himself in his rolling chair. After straightening his navy and light blue checked tie, he looked at the tiny clock that sat at the left corner of the desk near the phone.

"Shit…ah, how long has Mr. Levine been waiting?" He asked, running his palm over his face.

"Um, maybe twenty, thirty minutes…but he's asleep, so…it's not too bad _this_ time." They shared a sheepish grin as they remembered the last time old Mr. Levine had come for his appointment…he'd almost left in frustration from the office when the two had decided to try experimenting with the milkshakes Lee was so fond of and had kept him waiting for forty-five minutes. Lee's profuse apologies and exclamations that she had been feeling sick and Edward had been tending her went only half-believed, but Mr. Levine stayed with them.

"Go and wake him and send him in with our apologies…then, after you finish retyping the letter, you can go home early and I'll meet you there when Mr. Levine and I are finished, alright?"

"Mmhmm." She replied, getting up from her seat on the desk, wincing slightly.

He saw the wince and thought of asking if she was okay, but thought better of it as she strode to the door and turned to wink at him as she opened it.

Walking back out to the reception, she let out a sigh of relief when she saw Mr. Levine still sat snoring haughtily in his chair, the newspaper still folded beside him where she had left it. Placing her hand on his shoulder, she gently shook him awake.

"Mr. Levine? Charlie…wake up! Mr. Grey will see you now."

The man snorted and opened his eyes, slightly startled by her. Blinking, he realized what she was saying, and nodded.

"Oh, right. Yes. How long was I asleep?"

"Um, maybe fifteen, twenty minutes. I didn't want to wake you; you looked so peaceful."

Smiling warmly at him, she shifted sideways so he could extricate himself from the chair. He stood, and shaking his head knowingly replied, "You and that husband of yours…sometimes I wonder."

Seeing the smile that she gave him at that comment, he chortled as he hobbled down the hall towards Edward's office.

She sat slowly in her own rolling chair and pulled herself over to the typewriter. Quickly the keys started clacking as her fingers moved in a blur to type up the letter, heart-free and without spelling errors this time.

TBC...

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So...tell me what you think! Review and tell me if there's anything particular that you would like to see happen in this story...I have my own ideas, but outside input's always cool too!

P.S. for those of you who are thinking, "hey! but she wasn't his secretary anymore at the end of the movie!" you must have patience, young padawans! It will all be explained in the next chapter...this ones just a nice intro for my fic to have. :)


	2. Time for a Change

**A/N:** Sorry I took so long for the next chapter...I thought I'd have time to write at camp, but...hah...nope, was definitely wrong there! Anyways, here it is...

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**_Chapter 2: Time for a Change_**

Looking at the clock as she bustled about the reception area, Lee noticed that it was still only 3:25 in the afternoon. She gathered her coat in her arms, glanced once more down the hall to Edward's office (_nope, still with his client_) and departed through the front door into the gleaming sunshine.

Squinting in the bright daylight as her eyes adjusted, Lee began walking in the direction of home. She could have waited and gotten a ride home with Edward in the car, but she enjoyed these peaceful solitary walks. The leafy green corridor reminded her of the part of her life when freedom and contentment were entirely new to her, born out of strolls such as this through Hawkins Park on equally sunny afternoons.

She smiled as she walked along, taking in deep breaths of the air. It had rained while she'd been at work, and now the air was fresh and almost cool. She brushed the blooming pink blossoms from the small grove of orange trees she passed every day, delighted at their fragrance. Closing her eyes for extended periods of time, Lee let her mind wander as her feet treaded the familiar sidewalks, guided simply by habit and memory.

Slowly opening her eyes, Lee noticed a figure leaning up against one of the tall wooden fences in the path before her.

"Lee. I thought you'd be along this path at some point today. Escaping…hubby dearest?"

_Oh no…_ she thought. _How did he…_

Dark brown curls, neatly trimmed facial hair and baggy clothes. She ignored the last part of his comment.

"Peter, what are you doing?"

She stopped directly in front of him, her stance defensive with arms crossed over her chest. Something was wrong – Peter was not usually cofrontational like this.

"So standing is a criminal offence now. Wow, you've been learning a lot being that lawyer's _slave_, haven't you?"

His eyes reflected the pain in his voice, which dripped with the disgust he had for hers and Edward's relationship. Even after ten months he was still hostile. His head drooped,

"You were supposed to be mine." He muttered, half to her and half to his sneakers.

Shaking her head, Lee replied, "What do you want me to say, Peter? I should have just ignored my own feelings and married you anyways? What kind of life do you think that would be, for the both of us?"

She paused, staring at the top of his head as he continued to stare at the ground between them.

"You know what? Screw it." He looked up, anger flashing across his features, making them ugly and twisted. "You have issues, Lee, huge issues. You're a… a freak! You're an embarrassment to your family, you humiliated my family, and humiliated me… you don't deserve to be happy. They should put you back in that hospital."

Lee's eyes narrowed at him; worry and rage battling for a place in her mind. In the end, she just had to walk away as fast as her heels could take her.

"Yeah, that's right. Keep walking! You just know that I'm right! You're going to end up back in there eventually. Don't you see?" Peter bellowed after her.

Looking over her shoulder at him, Lee shouted back, "No Peter. You're the one with issues. And I'm sick of dealing with them. _That's_ why I'm walking away!"

As she rounded the corner onto the street that hers and Edward's home was on, Lee's ears were met by the weight of Peter's silence at her reply to him. She shook her head and walked on, troubled deeply by the person Peter had become; the one _she_ had helped to make him become.

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As his last client of the day walked out the door, Edward Grey ran a world weary hand over his face. His tiny little law office had been particularly dull the past few weeks, and he found himself wishing for the atmosphere of the bustling downtown firm he had once belonged to.

He no longer had to worry about fighting and losing to Tricia O'Connor for the top positions and cases – she had her own practice now. Maybe it was time for a bit of a change…for him, and it would be good for Lee too…

After they had gotten married, Lee had decided that she wanted to continue her job as his secretary, to both of their delight and contentment. His old replacement for Lee, Melissa, had been told of the fate of Edward's prior secretaries, and hadn't returned to work after Lee's "hunger strike" had ended. Edward had mailed Melissa her severance check, and work had returned to be much like it had been before – but different in one distinct way: He was happy. He could tell that Lee was thrilled that they had continued their little office games, and seeing her happy satisfied him greatly.

And so life had gone on this way for a glorious ten months. They had enjoyed their first Christmas together, with an absolutely enormous live tree decorated with bright multicoloured lights and ornaments. The tree also came with the extraordinary mess of loose pine needles everywhere, which he suspected that Lee had shaken more of off the tree on purpose to irk him into reprimanding her (it had worked).

They had mostly kept to themselves; occasionally having Lee's parents over for dinner, who Edward got aong with pretty well. However, her sister and brother-in-law had always refused to accompany them, and didn't really speak much to Lee anymore.

Edward felt the need for something new to happen, and he felt that Lee would agree. He nodded resolutely to himself as he picked up his brief case and walked out of his office to the black Pontiac parked in the driveway of the dreary little building. He would pick up a dinner from their favourite restaurant, and discuss his thoughts with her over dinner. A soft smile curled his lips as he got into the car. He would likely never be ordering a meal for one from _Pasta Vino_ ever again.

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As Edward walked through the open front door of their house, he looked around for Lee. She usually sat waiting for him on the lounger on the front porch, or stood by the door to surprise him as he walked in. Today, she was nowhere to be seen.

"Lee? Lee, my pet, where are you?" He called, his voice tinged with slight confusion and the beginnings of worry.

"Here. In the bedroom."

Her reply came faintly through the house, virtually devoid of emotion or tonality. Edward placed the pizza and garlic bread he had picked up for them onto the kitchen table, and jogged to the room, fearing the worst. He hadn't found her this way in ages…but she couldn't have done it…he'd forbidden her from doing it almost two years ago…

As he burst into the sparsely decorated room, he found her sitting on the bed, hands folded neatly in her lap, staring with an empty gaze at the blood red wall, as he had done so many lonely nights before they were together. She looked lost…her eyes disturbed him the most, conjuring images to his mind of how she had been when she had first become his secretary.

"What happened?" He asked gently as he sat next to her and took one of her hands in both of his. She looked at him, almost mournfully, and sighed.

"I ran into Peter today." She stated, deadpan. Recognition began to dawn on Edward.

"And what could he possibly say to you that has you so devastated?"

She looked down at their hands, now intertwined, and then looked up into his inquiring hazel eyes as she began to speak.

"He told me…that I was a freak, and an embarrassment, and that I have issues and will end up back in the institution." She laughed at this mirthlessly. Edward smiled gently, squeezing her hand. "And this upset you because…?"

"It's not really what he said that bothers me, because I know he's just being intentionally bitter and horrible."

Edward let out a short laugh at this; he'd slightly underestimated her resilience to criticism and scrutiny. His shoulders relaxed.

"What bothers me," she continued, "is how…angry and cruel he was acting. He was never like that before. And now I'm worried that I broke him…pushed him over the edge. What if he does something to someone else… what if he does something to himself? It would be my fault. All my fault." She trailed off, and a tear ran down her cheek as she shook her head, as if trying to dislodge the guilt that she felt from her mind.

Edward wiped the tear away with a finger and then cupped her face in his hands, lightly kissing her forehead.

"You know better than that Lee. It's not your fault. You did what was right for you, and if he couldn't see that, and couldn't admit that the two of you were not meant to be, then he is the one with greater issues to deal with. Maybe you should tell your parents to keep an eye on him, to let his parents know as well. That's all we can do, my pet. Any other attempts on our part might just end up making the situation worse."

Edward stroked her chestnut hair with one hand, and she closed her eyes, leaning into his other hand more firmly.

"Let's go and eat, Lee. I dropped by _Pasta Vino_ and picked up our favourite pizza." Lee smiled at this, and gave him a quick little kiss. They stood up and he led her by the hand to the kitchen, sitting her down at the table and letting her open up the boxes as he rummaged around the fridge for drinks for each of them.

As they sat eating their pizza, Edward decided it was as good a time as any to bring up his ideas to Lee.

"I was thinking that maybe it was time for a change for the two of us, and now your little encounter today with Peter just reinforced that."

Chewing thoughtfully, Lee tilted her head as she peered curiously at him, waiting for him to continue.

"I've been thinking a lot lately that I would like to get back into the faster paced law practice that I would get at a larger firm. I want to get back into the bigger cases; criminal and civil cases, instead of just the petty little divorce cases and the like that we deal with now." He paused to gauge her reaction. Lee just continued to munch on her pizza, waiting to hear the entire plan.

"So, I would like us to move downtown and work at my old law firm, Thompson & Clark."

Lee mulled this over, smiling. "So, I'd still be your secretary, right?"

"Well, not exactly." Edward ran a hand through his hair. "I think I have a better idea."

Lee arched an eyebrow at him before replying suspiciously.

"Which is…?"

Edward smirked mischievously. "Well, I was thinking that after taking a few courses, you could become my personal, private paralegal."

Lee's mouth dropped open in disbelief.

"You've just learned so much over the past year, I think you'd be great at it! What do you think, pet?" He asked her.

Hesitating only a moment, Lee smiled and replied, "When do we leave?"

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TBC… hopefully sooner than later! I'll be at school now...so lots of time for procrastinaton and writing instead of, you know...school things.

*EDIT* I have cleared up some things in this chapter and I'm working on the next one FINALLY!!!! It should be up soon, I promise! Enjoy the minor editing of this chapter...I didn't change much, but I think it's better.


	3. Phone Call Revelations

**A/N: I know, it's been a while... but here's a short chapter to keep things going. I promise the next chapter won't take so long. Enjoy!**

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_**Chapter 3: Phone Call Revelations  
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The next day at the office, Lee sat typing away in the reception area most of the morning. She was content at being able to transpose letters for a couple hours with no clients to worry about as Edward spoke on the phone with his former employers. The call with Thompson & Clark seemed to be going well, until Lee heard his voice escalate to a shouting volume that she could hear clearly all the way from his office.

Wondering what could have gone wrong, Lee hurriedly rose from her desk and shuffled down the dimly lit hallway to Edward's office. Gingerly pulling on the door to avoid making it squeak, she opened it wide enough to slip in, and closed it as she turned to face the bright, open room and her now madly pacing husband.

"Yes, I realized that when I left, Justine. Can I please just speak to George?"

His brow was furrowed with concentration as he paused for the response from the woman on the other line. Lee padded over and sank onto the patterned futon couch near the orchid garden, never talking her eyes off of Edward's constantly moving form.

"Justine, I know she's with him now. Please, I'm not asking you to move mountains here, I just-" Edward's sharp intake of breath belied the difficulty he was having maintaining his temper. Letting the breath out slowly, he ran his free hand across his face as the other tightly held the cordless phone propped against his ear.

"Fine. Yes, I understand. Can you please get him to call me after he gets out of his meeting? …Alright. Yeah. Thanks Justine. You too. Goodbye."

After he hung up, Edward stared at the phone in his hand, seemingly weighing the benefit of the emotional satisfaction provided by hurling the phone across the room against the financial cost of replacing the recently-purchased appliance. Opting for respecting the latter, he sighed and glanced briefly at Lee, registering for the first time that she was there, and then slowly walked to his desk and flopped down on his leather rotating chair. He spun around in it once before roughly replacing the phone onto its cradle and covering his face with his hands.

Lee frowned, "What was that about?"

Pulling his fingers down his cheeks, with a pressure that left temporary white streaks, Edward propped his chin in his palms and rested his elbows on the dark hardwood surface of his desk.

"The firm is apparently being …dramatically restructured." He replied, his voice laced with sarcasm and still tight with frustration. "They've sold it to a multinational corporate operation, and half of the original lawyers working there have been let go. George Thompson, one of my old bosses, was in a meeting with the new heads of the firm to negotiate with them to try and prevent more liquidation, but it certainly does not sound good."

"So they're definitely not hiring then, huh?" Commented Lee, offering a sympathetic smile from across the room. Edward gently chuckled at her summarization of his explanation and some of the tension in his shoulders melted away.

"No, they are definitely not hiring at the moment. Nor would my… track record with my former secretaries go over particularly well with the new board members, who are more familiar with my reputation in that area rather than my skills in the courtroom."

"Oh." Answered Lee, arching her eyebrows as she dropped her gaze to her entwined fingers that sat in her lap. "I guess not."

The silence began to stretch into long moments as they were lost in their individual thoughts. Inspiration struck her, and Lee bit her lip gently and decided to pipe up,

"What about your cousin in Boston, you know…whatshisname, Alec or Albert or something? He's a lawyer too, right?"

"Alan. Alan Shore. Yes, he is a lawyer as well, but his firm is absolutely insane, and I think they were recently bought out by Chinese investors anyways, so it would be a similar situation to my own former firm. It seems to be a growing problem."

Lee sighed resignedly and stood, approaching the desk and walking around it so she could sit on Edward's side of it and be able to face him. Her knee-length heather grey skirt rode up slightly as she sat, exposing her legs up to her lower thighs. Edward gently ran the back of his hand from her left knee down to her ankle; a frown knit his brows together.

"Besides, I feel like I couldn't trust him within twenty feet of you for more than about ten seconds. His …personality would create an extremely unproductive working environment, and I may be forced to kill him, and it would be a shame since he is actually very good at what he does."

Lee had closed her eyes at his touch, and now she grinned widely.

"Overprotective much, sweetheart?"

"You say overprotective, I say necessary precautions. No Boston. And besides, I hate the cold winters; I had enough of them growing up. I would much rather have warmth and a good growing season all year round, thank you very much."

Lee visualized the lush green of their backyard jungle-like garden with its bright, multicoloured patches of exotic flowers and silently agreed with Edward's desire for a year-round growing season. She grabbed a paperweight from the desk and began idly passing it from one hand to the other. "So now what? Do you think we'll still be able to move?"

"Well, apparently Jim Clark, the other name partner of the firm refused to stay and go down with his ship, and decided to start his own firm a month ago in a small office block just a couple streets over from the old firm. He has a few of his former employees with him as well, and is planning on setting up a new litigation department once everything is smoothed out."

"Which means you might have a chance getting into criminal law again, but with him in this new firm?"

"Basically. I've talked to him briefly about it already this morning and he seems rather eager to get any experienced lawyers to join with him, since the vast majority of people who came over to his firm are fresh out of law school and don't really have much to lose from starting from scratch. But, …there's a small catch involved with that option." Edward paused, looking into Lee's eyes.

She was surprised by the hint of worry in them, and the dread that made his voice feel suddenly heavy. "Which is?" She inquired.

"Well," he ventured hesitantly, "You see, when I left the firm, I had a pretty good reason. My …relationship with my ex-wife Tricia deteriorated very rapidly, you see, and I left to get away from her when she started interfering with my cases; she was compromising witnesses, even sabotaging some of my case files. As you'll remember, we didn't actually divorce until well after you had begun working for me."

Lee could tell he was beating around the bush, and knew it was because he had been very uncomfortable with telling her the details of what had happened with Tricia. "I remember. The sound of her voice made you hide in the closet. What does Tricia have to do with the new firm, Edward?"

He grimaced at the memory and replied, "Tricia is now married to James Clark, and will likely end up becoming a named partner. Which means that if I end up working at the new firm, my …dominatrix ex-wife will essentially become my new boss."

Staring at him in shock, the only response that Lee could manage was, "Oh."

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**Oooooh! So there's more to Edward than we all thought, eh? ;) I hope any Boston Legal fans out there enjoyed their little moment. The idea of Edward vs. Alan was too irresistable to ignore. Next chapter, we'll get to explore a bit of Edward's past and find out what exactly happened between him and the "she-devil" Tricia O'Connor!**


	4. Tricia's Smile, Edward's Silence

_****_**A/N: Hurray! New chapter! I plan to start writing more in the coming months, so hopefully I won't be so horrible at updating. But here's a chapter to satiate everyone in the meantime :) Enjoy, comment, review.**

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_**Chapter 4: Tricia's Smile, Edward's Silence**_

The remainder of the day at the little law office passed in relative silence. Edward was still brooding over the turbulent situation at Thompson & Clark that had destroyed the comfortable familiarity he had been expecting to encounter when returning to his old firm. Lee was simply still stunned by the mental images of her beloved Dominant husband being bound and gleefully tortured by his ex-wife. She wondered what it had taken to change him into the man she knew now; or at least the man that she _thought_ she knew.

When she had retreated back to her own desk in the reception area, Edward had waited a few minutes and then followed stealthily to watch her, nervously peeking around the corner of the hallway. He'd never planned on having to explain his twisted and lascivious past with Tricia O'Connor to his young wife. Seemingly, if he planned on returning to a busier firm – in particular the new firm that belonged to James Clark – where he could potentially become a senior partner in a matter of years, some explaining would be necessary.

He subconsciously knew Lee loved him unconditionally, but consciously he still worried sometimes that his eccentricities would eventually become too much for her and would drive her away. Satisfied at least for the time being that Lee would not run screaming from her desk, Edward retreated slowly back down the hall to his office. He wanted time to formulate some sort of action plan for the coming evening that could somehow make exposing more of his inner darkness to her feel less excruciating.

After he'd left, Lee stood on tip-toe and leaned across her desk to make sure he was in the office, before returning to her previous task. It always amused her that he was unaware that she was fully aware of his gaze each time that he peeked around the corner.

Despite the preference for letters done up on the reliable but limiting IBM typewriter, Lee had convinced Edward that it would be useful to have internet access in the office as well. A few months ago, she'd gotten a sleek little laptop that now perched in the middle of her desk in the waiting room. It seemed a bit out of place only feet away from the manual typewriter, but it's purpose wasn't to sit there and look pretty – it was for research!

With one ear always listening for the distinctive creak of Edward's door opening, or for the sound of his footsteps or the gentle rustling of his suit, she could be careful not to let him see things before she wanted him to see them. Sometimes it was recipes or new ideas for office games, but today her research was of a more serious nature. Across the delicate black keys of the laptop, her precise fingertips typed in the name "Tricia O'Connor" into the search engine for at least the hundredth time. She scrolled down the results, eyes hunting for any links she hadn't already perused. Past the Facebook and Myspace pages and the photographers and random other Tricia or Patricias, the hundreds and hundreds of people were definitely not the intimidating lioness of a lawyer that she had met previously. The only online evidence of her existence in reality was a LinkedIn page last updated in 2006, and a small blurb with an accompanying smiling photo on the splash page of the old law firm.

That tiny picture had occupied Lee for many hours in the past ten months. She stared fixedly at it, trying to glean anything about the woman who sat with confident shoulders and the perfectly straight white teeth that were revealed by her open, yet cool smile that didn't reach her eyes. Straight blond hair, muted grey suit, minimal jewellery… none of it held any evidence of a sordid secret life, and it was frustrating for Lee that the woman somehow managed to appear normal so _effortlessly_. Who the heck was Tricia O' Connor _really_?

Lee closed the lid of the computer and tucked it into her shoulder bag, packing up the rest of her daily gear as an idea began to form itself in her mind. She absently undid and re-braided her hair and arranged it into a tight bun at the back of her neck. Working with her hair always helped her think more clearly, and gave her fingers something to do. By the time she was finished, the plan was a bit more solid in her head, and she was ready to put it into action. If the internet couldn't help her, it was time to do things the old fashioned way – ask someone.

Lee gathered her bag and umbrella, and strode calmly down the hall to Edward's office. He was still sulking from earlier, and sat at his desk alternately staring distractedly ahead at the orchid garden, and shuffling the small stack of folders and papers laid out before him. His frown was set in a stubborn line, and his eyes weren't smiling when he looked up at her. They almost made her falter from her goal; part of her, most of her, wanted so badly to comfort him, but the other part of her that needed to learn and understand him more fully held her resolve.

She steeled herself and tilted her chin up slightly as she asked, "Edward, can you tell me about Tricia O'Connor? I'd really like to know a bit more about her, since you two have a pretty… um, colourful history."

She stood, waiting for him to get angry or react in any way at all, but he didn't. She fiddled with the shoulder strap of her bag and slowly shifted her weight from one foot to the other, standing in the doorway as he continued his silence. She ventured again.

"I'm not just curious about what we'd be getting ourselves into when we move into the city and start working with her. I want to know more about you. We've been married almost a year, and I still hardly know anything about your life before this little office."

"There's nothing to know." He said, his gaze suddenly locked on the paper in front of him in a way that confirmed her suspicion that he wouldn't be forthcoming with any details. He was either deeply ashamed or scared (or both) by what those details would reveal about himself to her. Lee was simultaneously sad for him and hurt that in spite of everything they'd been through, he still didn't seem to trust that she loved him.

"I know that's not true and so do you. I wish that you'd believe that I want to get to know everything about you. It's not like anything I hear will make me change how I feel about you."

"It changed everyone else's views," he replied, eyes still not willing to meet hers.

"I'm not everyone else. Never will be." She answered, her tone firm. He still didn't budge.

She stood in the doorway for what seemed like an hour, the silence growing between them broken only by the endless tick of the clock on the mantle across from her, and the gentle tapping of raindrops on the glass windowpanes that signalled the beginning of a typical Florida afternoon rain shower.

"I'm going home for the day now." She said, giving up and turning to leave.

"It's raining, I'll drive," he offered, voice cracking slightly as he finally turned to look at her.

"I'll walk." She said with a finality that was echoed in her level gaze, which met his faltering one for only a brief moment as she turned and walked out of the office. She felt him watch her until she rounded the corner.

The sound of the front door slamming shut tripled the weight of the silence after she'd gone. Edward buried his face in his arms on the desk, knowing how to fix things, but unwilling to trust.

Tricia had taken so many things from him, but his trust in others was the thing he missed most.

The neighbourhood always looked especially green when it rained, vibrantly soaking up all the moisture and shining off leaves and flower petals. But today, Lee took very little notice or enjoyment of the lively greenery as she trod along the damp concrete under her purple umbrella. Instead of going straight home, she went to the coffee place a few streets away from the office. Here she sat at a cozy little table with a steaming mug of tea to let her thoughts coalesce into a different version of her earlier plan. With the soothing aroma of vanilla chai wafting around her, she pulled the laptop out again and opened it on the wooden tabletop. Rain fell in a watery curtain down the window beside her, obscuring the view of the street and its few brave or oblivious pedestrians that were unwilling to wait the twenty or so minutes it would take for the weather to clear; afternoon rainstorms in Florida become predictable to anyone who lives there long enough to learn their moods.

If only Edward were a little more predictable in his moods sometimes, she thought grumpily. But maybe I just need some time to learn them, said a more reasonable corner of her brain. She sighed, and turned back to the blue glow of the laptop screen.

The page from Thompson & Clark Law was still up on her web browser, with Tricia's prosaic smile. Lee scowled at it, and was about to close the window, when she decided to reread the small paragraph one last time beside the photo. As she sipped her tea, she noticed in a font a couple sizes smaller than the main typeface, that the website had listed a fax number and personal business cell number for Tricia O'Connor. There was an almost audible click as the plan in Lee's head fell completely into place. She jotted the number down on a napkin, and put the laptop away again.

Tea in hand, she carefully walked to the serving counter and was met by the helpful face of the barista, a young college student roughly the same age who'd started working at the coffee shop a month ago during the afternoons. She'd memorized Lee's order after her first few visits, and instantly earned a spot in Lee's good books.

"Hey, Sarah, I don't want to be any trouble, but is there any way I could use your phone?"

"Yeah, no problem, as long as it's local. You gotta dial nine first, okay?"

"Gotcha. Thanks a bunch!" said Lee, beaming. She went in behind the counter, and set her mug down gingerly on the ledge beside the phone. She picked the receiver up off the cradle and crooked it between her shoulder and ear as she held the napkin in one hand and dialled the number with the other. Sarah was standing and watching with curiosity a few feet away until Lee looked up. They shared the awkward smiles brought on by limited privacy in such situations as calling your husband's ex-wife. The barista lowered her eyes apologetically and grabbed a towel, turning to wipe the spotless counter vigorously, and was saved by a pair of customers who came dripping in.

Lee turned her back to them all and nibbled her lip as she waited for at least five rings for someone to pick up on the other line. Just as a swell of relief started to overcome her and the answering service was about to come on, a familiar, clipped husky female voice answered the phone. A jolt of nerves went down Lee's spine, but she held on.

"Yes, hello? Sorry about the wait. This is Tricia O'Connor speaking, how may I help you?"

"Hello Tricia, this is Lee Holloway, Edward's wife. Are you busy this evening or tomorrow afternoon?"

* * *

**Please review/comment... I like hearing what you have to say, and appreciate any constructive criticism :) **


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